I recently re-read this article written by Bro. Bennie Sutherland from many years ago and it just touched my heart…
I hope you enjoy it as well…
Shared from the archives of the Holiness Messenger (Oct/Nov 2008 :Volume 54)
EROSION
The Gradual Wearing Away Process
Daniel 7:25 And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.
Erosion doesn’t happen overnight. It is a gradual wearing process. Just as water dripping on a rock over a long period of time will wear away the rock, so will the continual dripping of the adversary eventually erode away the stability and conviction of the saints of God. We must by the help of God put a stop to the spiritual erosion that is happening among us even now.
The pressure we feel as a church and individuals comes from an enemy who would like to see Holiness completely obliterated from the entire world and sadly, he has already ac- complished it in many areas. We are surrounded by churches and organizations that are no longer what they once were and it did not happen overnight. They gradually faded until every particle of Holiness was slowly disassembled, taken apart, and washed away from their lives. Behind the scenes, there is a master strategist who knows a frontal attack will drive us to our knees and consequently bring us to revival. The roaring of the lion against us will only make us defend ourselves so he turns to this gradual wearing away process that has brought him his greatest measure of success over the centuries. He is a master at the process of erosion for he has had thousands of years to perfect his formula. He knows how to allow erosion to work quietly and so slowly that often it is only the collapse of the structure that brings attention to it, and by then, it is too late to do anything about it.
What we are facing right now is a slow eroding away of things we must maintain if we are to remain as God’s people. If some things are taken away from us then we are automatically disqualified to be known as the people of God. Notice who it is that he targets "and shall wear out the saints of the most High." It is the saint that is placed in his sights. From the weakest to the strongest, if you are a child of God he has but one goal for you -total annihilation! Some give in quickly and are swept away in the torrent of compromise and worldliness; but others stand true to principle, too deeply rooted and grounded in the faith to succumb to sudden destruction. It is in such cases that he employs his most effective weapons and thus begins the slow wearing down process. This is why old men get up after years of standing true and make apologies for preaching Holiness. He was not overcome in youth, nor did he fall in the crisis of middle age, but as an old man he crumbled under the effects of this gradual wearing away process.
The ancient history of the nation of Israel is a text book example that illustrates the power of this process of erosion. From the day that God called Israel and made the covenant with Abraham and the patriarchs that declared them to be his chosen people Satan has sought to destroy them. And what he could not do with bondage, captivity, and persecution he did through the gradual wearing away process. He mingled among the religion of Israel until he had carried them so far away that they became the enemies of the very God whose name they bore. In the beginning, Israel shunned idols and idol worship, but little by little, they began to relax their position until rejection gave way to toleration, and toleration led to acceptance, and acceptance brought on participation until idol worship was as firmly ensconced in Israel as it was in the heathen nations that surrounded them. It is the fruit produced by the gradual wearing away process of erosion!
There was a time when we hated sin, feared it like a serpent, and shunned it like poison, but we have come to a place where much of what was rejected then has become accepted now. Sin has come out of the closet and walks down main street and even sits in our pews, unafraid and unashamed, and it did not happen overnight! It is the end result of the gradual wearing away process! Homes are broken up, ministries destroyed, and lives wrecked all because of a process that slowly eroded the principles of Holiness out of our lives until we are left with nothing to lean upon and no strength to stand.
Ask yourself a few questions to gauge the effects of erosion in your own life. For instance: how many issues have you changed your mind about this year simply because of pressure? Are your convictions as strong and your resolutions as firm as they once were? Sadly, many have drifted to a place where we are watching our convictions wash away and our hope of revival with them for we cannot have revival without the anointing, and we cannot have the anointing without holiness.
The process of erosion has taken down some of the greatest champions and strongest warriors in sacred history. Samson was physically the strongest man that ever lived but one woman using this gradual wearing away process did what a thousand soldiers could not do. She toppled the mighty Samson and God’s champion was left blinded in Gaza all because of erosion! Notice the wording of the scripture when referring to this incident: Judges 16:16 And it came to pass, when she pressed him daily with her words, and urged him, so that his soul was vexed unto death; Samson was resolute in the beginning but slowly and surely she wore him out!
The Sweet Psalmist David fell victim to this wearing down process for the man who sat on the roof the night he saw Bathsheba bathing was not the same man who had sat so many nights in the solitude of the Judean hills watching over the flocks. The watchful David was aware of what was happening and stopped the lion, and the bear, and even the mighty Goliath, but now as he sits on the seat of erosion his perception is so perverted and
his convictions so eroded that he forgets the cause of God and pushes aside the ten commandments to take the wife of his most loyal servant. It wasn’t a knife or a spear that brought David down, just the gradual wearing away process!
Judas Iscariot had the distinct privilege of living three and a half years under the influence and ministry of Jesus Christ himself, but instead of ending in glory, his is a story that screams with warning that character can be eroded away in the very presence of God.
We are in the fight of our lives and someone must stand and cry out against this wearing away process before we lose an entire generation and become part of a vast monument that testifies to the power of erosion.
There is a way to withstand the wearing away process for both Joseph and Daniel managed to do it. From their examples we see that it is possible to maintain a firm foundation and strong convictions even in the midst of a wicked and perverse generation, but to get it done, we must fill our hearts and minds with thoughts of God and His Holiness. Philippians 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.
We must give ourselves to self discipline and never let the Devil’s spark turn into a fire. Remember, eternity is at hand and there is too much at stake for us to give in to this gradual wearing away process!
-Rev. B. D. Sutherland